Vice President – as in, who does he pick? With so much of the media under the (inaccurate) impression that former President Donald J. Trump has already won the 2024 GOP Presidential Primary—without a single vote having yet been cast or even a solitary debate having been had—it’s important to acknowledge that Trump is dominating his GOP challengers in almost every poll taken thus far. Considering these data points, it now becomes necessary to contemplate just who might become Trump’s vice-presidential nominee.
The most important aspect of any vice-presidential candidate is their ability to attract certain voters that the presidential candidate might struggle to attract on their own. Trump’s biggest electoral weakness comes in the form of women voters.
It’s almost become conventional wisdom to say that Trump must pick a woman to be his number two. These voices are likely onto something and the calls for a woman VP nominee for Trump must be considered.
Possible Female VP Candidates for Donald Trump
It must be stressed that only a certain kind of female pick can possibly appeal to a wider audience while at the same time keeping more stalwart Republican voters onboard in any election.
Some of the names of possible women to run as Trump’s number two have been former Trump Administration UN Ambassador Nikki Haley (who is also presently running against Trump for the GOP nomination) and Kari Lake, the Emmy award-winning Phoenix, Arizona newscaster who ran for governor in 2022, lost, and who is now arguing that the 2022 election was stolen.
Still, another possibility (though less likely) is South Dakota Republican Governor Kristi Noem.
Male Running Mates Are Possible, Not A Wise Move for Trump
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) is another name that’s been floated as has Vivek Ramaswamy, both of whom appeal to different groups of minority voters that Trump needs to win over in order to be victorious in the 2024 Election.
In the case of Scott and Ramaswamy, though, they are unlikely to be serious contenders. After all, it’s the lack of the female vote that has continually dogged Trump since he became president. The loss of this vote has, in many respects, been the bane of Trump’s political life.
Thus, Trump needs a woman as his number two.
For some time, it was rumored that Kari Lake, who has been dubbed as a female Donald Trump, would be his number two. Photogenic, articulate, and deeply committed to the Trump cause, Lake would be an interesting addition to Trump’s ticket. She’s become such a key element of the “MAGA” world that she has been spotted staying for protracted periods of time at Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago.
Yet, fundamentally, Kari Lake is a loser. She’s also an ideological bomb thrower like Donald Trump.
Lake brings little to the table as she would merely overlap in terms of her appeal with Trump, with the voters he’s already likely to help him win in 2024. With women, Lake performs poorly. She turns them off with her fiery rhetoric and unapologetic embrace of what many voters believe to be nothing more than conspiracy theories and election denialism.
What’s more, Lake steals Trump’s beloved spotlight—a grave sin in Trump’s world—and has apparently had somewhat of a falling out with her beloved former president over the last few weeks. It is increasingly unlikely that she will, in fact, receive the nod. Lake is simply far too attention crazed for Trump’s liking (he is the ultimate diva in that way).
Despite Trump’s annoyance that his former UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, is running against him and attacking him on the campaign trail, never doubt Trump’s bizarre obsession with her. Haley was an ardent “Never Trump” Republican Party leader when the man who would become Haley’s boss first descended the golden escalator at Trump Tower in New York to make his infamous announcement that he was, in fact, running for president in 2016.
Throughout the GOP primary that year, Haley raged against Trump and sided with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who was in a serious fight with Trump for the nomination that year.
Nikki Haley is the Wrong Choice
Once in office, Trump embraced Haley, who had initiated a stunning charm offensive to win over the forty-fifth president and his inner circle. Ensconced at the United Nations, Haley became a fiefdom onto herself.
A neoconservative, Haley shared little in common with Trump. She simply cynically used him to elevate herself—and Trump was vain enough to allow her to do so. Trump has a disturbing penchant for elevating neoconservatives whom he disagreed with (neocons who also truly hated him) to senior positions on his team, only for them to freelance and continue undermining him.
It is completely believable that Donald Trump would pick Nikki Haley as his running-mate, should the forty-fifth president again win the Republican nomination and square off against President Joe Biden.
Again, though, Haley would likely have trouble resonating with women voters because she, too, turns them off. Haley comes across as insincere and manipulative (true on both counts) and that makes her an unappealing candidate.
More Problems for Donald Trump
Lastly, Kristi Noem is a long shot, but she is on the list. A highly successful governor of South Dakota, Noem has governed strictly on Libertarian lines. Noem is photogenic and well-spoken. Just as with the other two possible female candidates, though, Noem’s public persona will likely harm her standing with many women. In each case, then, it’d be up to one of these three women to galvanize enough Republican-leaning women to outmatch the women who are militantly pro-Biden in 2024.
The problem for Trump is that, while he resonates deeply with his base, he continues to struggle with independent voters and minorities. It’s not impossible for him to overcome these deficits. Picking the proper running mate will help him to mitigate the risks associated with his candidacy at present.
Trump needs a woman but some of the names bandied about are all wrong picks precisely because they do little to ameliorate his negative image or to enhance his standing with the groups that he needs to galvanize to vote for him.
If Donald Trump wins in 2024, it will be with the help of a strong vice presidential pick.
Sadly, right now, there doesn’t seem to be anyone yet in the offing. And none of Trump’s challengers in the GOP Primary are particularly promising.
A 19FortyFive Senior Editor, Brandon J. Weichert is a former Congressional staffer and geopolitical analyst who is a contributor at The Washington Times, as well as at American Greatness and the Asia Times. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower (Republic Book Publishers), Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life (Encounter Books), and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy (July 23). Weichert can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
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